U-blox Integrates Swiss Time Service Directly into Its GNSS Laboratory

(CONNECT) U-blox has announced the integration of Switzerland's time infrastructure—which is traceable to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)—into its GNSS laboratory in Thalwil. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) enable positioning and navigation on the ground and in the air by receiving signals from navigation satellites and pseudolites.

To this end, the company—which specialises in positioning and short-range communication for the automotive, industrial, and consumer goods sectors—is collaborating with the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology ( METAS ) in Köniz, Bern Canton, which is responsible for disseminating the Swiss official time, and with the Swiss foundation Switch, which aims to harness the potential of digital transformation for education and research and provides the fiber-optic network.

Through this collaboration, u-blox gains continuous access to a UTC-referenced reference via a documented calibration chain. In this way, the company ensures full traceability of measurements for its time-measuring products.

“High-performance GNSS timing products rely on rigorous and traceable timing validation throughout the entire development cycle,” said Samuli Pietilä, Director of Product Management, Timing and Infrastructure at u-blox. “This infrastructure enables us to validate the performance of GNSS timing receivers directly in our own lab using a UTC-traceable reference and to continuously improve it.” 

Jacques Morel, head of the METAS Photonics, Time, and Frequency Laboratory in Wabern, Bern, emphasises that “this collaboration demonstrates how the national metrology infrastructure can support advanced industrial applications that require high-precision synchronisation, time accuracy, and traceable validation based on UTC references.” ce/mm